Our Client Director, Katie Jenkins, looks back at a hugely busy and successful year for Interdirect.

As well as continuing to support our existing client partners with comms and digital projects, we’ve welcomed some new ones and spent time focusing on ‘us’ as an agency, which, after 27 years, is not a quick or easy job to undertake!

During, a sometimes hectic year, we have…

• Refined our proposition focusing on our roots and core strengths in PR, comms and digital
• Unveiled our new brand, saying goodbye to our old identity and ‘hi’ to a fresh new look and feel, underpinned by a solid strategy
• Designed, developed and launched our new website to reflect Interdirect’s new branding and approach
• Embraced a collaborative approach by strengthening our relationships with agency partner Stratos to bring more brand and creative services to our clients
• Supported in the delivery of two ‘Picture This’ events in partnership with Stratos and Wirebox. A unique, thought provoking discussion which brings specialists together to share insights and best practice. We are looking forward to hosting further ‘Picture This’ events in 2024.

Agency life can be fast-paced, and this year has been even busier as we have worked hard to enhance our offering and develop an even stronger foundation for our future. We believe it’s important to pause and take time to reflect, which will enable us to positively move forward into a New Year.

So, while we head towards a much-needed festive break on Friday 22nd December, and encourage our team to properly down tools and enjoy time with families and loved ones to recharge and reset – we are also excited to start looking forward to a prosperous 2024, with some exciting projects already lined up to kick off the New Year.

We’d like to thank all of our clients and suppliers for their continued support and look forward to working with you again when we re-open on Wednesday 3rd January.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the #IDTeam

On 23 November, leading members of the business community across Milton Keynes gathered at the city headquarters of technology company Aiimi for the second edition of Picture This.

What is Picture This?

The Picture This concept has been developed by a trio of agencies within Milton Keynes; Stratos – a brand and creative agency, Wirebox – a technical development agency and ourselves at Interdirect – a PR and digital comms agency.

It is a platform for people, our peers, friends, and partners to get together to discuss key themes and industry touchpoints crafted by that very audience. There’s no ‘hard sell’ – just an honest approach to thought-leadership which is fundamental to the Picture This ethos.

Hot topic

This second edition of Picture This focused on Artificial Intelligence.  A hot topic considering Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes had just hosted the Global AI Safety-Summit; a huge stage for International Governments, leading AI companies and experts in research to come together to discuss and understand how to grip and tackle any potential AI risks to ensure it develops safely in the years ahead.

The aim for Picture This was to give a slightly different take on the sometimes controversial subject of artificial intelligence, from attempting to demystify the subject to looking at how the technology can help and enhance working practices.

What went down?

The event featured three industry specific speakers giving their own thoughts across a number of AI related topics including content creation, emerging tech and more.

Phil Hill from West Herts College talked about how generative AI is disrupting his field within photography. He talked about the historical upheaval when photography overtook painting as a mainstream medium, how he’s been using AI in teaching, particularly focusing on the many ways they cross over through critical thinking. Phil has also used AI to restore images from the past and he touched upon the bias in generative AI due to the fact it is largely used within the Western World.

The second speaker of the evening was Matt Eustace from Aiimi who talked about using AI tech as a problem-solving tool, and how having access to data via AI sources can help businesses make more informed decisions. He also talked at length about Extractive AI – the lesser-known cousin of the more popular Generative AI.

Designer, Matthew Maxwell, shared how he has been inspired by Shakespeare and used DALL.E to create artwork which blended modern day with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. He also went on to talk about using AI to have fun within his art.

A Q&A session wrapped up the event and was hosted by our own MD, Nicholas Mann, who opened the room to encourage attendees to get involved in the conversation. Igniting a forthright debate, insightful questions were put to all three speakers, and all provided valuable input, incorporating various approaches and points within their answers.

What’s next?

The third edition of Picture This will be coming in early 2024 with an all-new topic to discuss and digest. Look out for more information coming soon.

On Monday 16 October, World Food Day, some of the team from Interdirect headed to Campbell Park to support long-standing client Socius unload over 250 food cans from the back of a car. Why? It was all part of a Guinness World Record breaking attempt by the MK Food Bank.

The local charity, setup in 2004, has seen an unprecedented rise in demand over the last 12 months, and in an effort to increase their food stocks and to raise awareness of the amazing work they do across the city for families and individuals, they organised #MKCAN. An audacious attempt to smash the current Guinness World Record for the longest line of food cans.

Local businesses were encouraged to sign up and ‘adopt’ a section of the planned 10km route around Campbell Park, which sits in the very heart of Milton Keynes. Socius, who are currently, redeveloping the Saxon Court building in Central Milton Keynes as part of the planned MK Gateway development, took up the challenge with members of their team heading to MK from around the country, and two members of the ID team went along to support.

Each business or organisation adopted one of the 400 sections, each donating over 250 cans to ‘complete’ their section. After a long morning of measuring, counting and adjudicating – the result was finally announced at 2.30pm with the MK Food Bank officially being awarded the Guinness World Record with over 102,000 food cans being lined up.

It was a herculean effort from the local community with the donated cans shoring up the organisation’s stocks for the next 6 months, and one which our team was proud to be part of.

If you’d like to find out more about the MK Food Bank – go to https://mkfoodbank.org.uk/